Neil deGrasse Tyson Goes At It With Bill Maher Over Vaccines: ‘You’re Not A Doctor!’
Comic and political pundit Bill Maher went at it with celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson when Tyson brought up vaccines and said he wasn’t trying to “poke the bear.”
On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Neil deGrasse Tyson was the interview guest, and Andrew Sullivan and Donna Brazile were the panel guests.
Tyson and Maher butted heads during the interview over transgender athletes and the election results. During the “overtime” segment, Tyson provoked Maher into a testy exchange about assessing risk and the appropriate level of medical skepticism:
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: Can I just make one more point–
BILL MAHER: You can make all the points you want!
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: Thank you. I just– I’ve come to recognize that the human brain is not wired for thinking statistically or probabilistically about anything.
BILL MAHER: No.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: And then I looked at the history of math. Do you realize the first time anyone took an average of numbers and figured out that that was a good idea was after calculus had been invented?
So that tells me that it is not natural to think that way anyway. And there are entire industries that have risen up to exploit that fact. And they’re call casinos!
Because people say, “Look! It’s two!”.
No, it’s not two. You don’t understand probability and statistics.
BILL MAHER: But again–.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: So in that in that so that means we’re incapable as a species of truly understanding risk. That that and this this goes to vaccines. Okay? I don’t want to poke the bear here. But. But what I’m saying is–.
BILL MAHER: The bear believes in vaccines. Just being skeptical of all medical interventions, as everyone should.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: Well, except except, (APPLAUSE) wait-wait-wait-except 99 out of 100 medical interventions, you’re not saying I need a second opinion. If you have tuberculosis, you don’t need a second opinion. If you have–.
BILL MAHER: It’s not 99–. Not close to 99%.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: It’s easily 99–.
BILL MAHER: It is not just–.
If you break a femur, you don’t get a second opinion on that.
BILL MAHER: I agree. But that’s not most things that happen to people. Lots of things that happen to people. And I’m thrilled that you don’t have have had this happen in your life, but not –. And I hope you never do. But trust me, most people at a certain point in their life will need a second opinion.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: The second opinion? Yes. But that’s after you’ve been through 99 other. I’m trying to put credit back to doctors where our life expectancy is three times what it was 150 years ago and everyone before 150 years ago.
BILL MAHER: But but. But lower than the rest.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: Ate organic. And half of them died before they were 35. Science matters in this.
Of course it does.
Sometimes you don’t sound that way. That’s what worries me.
BILL MAHER: Well. Actually, actually, you’re the guy–.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: And you’re so rational.
BILL MAHER: You’re the guy who doesn’t understand why the NBA team can’t beat the Lakers. So I don’t know who you’re supposed to be. You’re supposed to be. You’re supposed to be the scientist. And you couldn’t even admit that.
But as far as medicine goes, I could talk to you this about all day. But again, we do have a party to get to. But, you know, this is not your field. You’re not a doctor!
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: But I’m a scientist! Excuse me! Yeah.
BILL MAHER: That’s not a doctor. Not a doctor.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: I’m a scientist who knows probability statistics–.
BILL MAHER: When I get a goiter on Uranus, I’ll call you.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: No, but call me when it’s time to assess risk. That’s something that is out of the world of probability statistics, and scientists are trained in that.
But so there’s a documentary. on PBS.org Right now that talks about what it means to accept the risk or to link it in a vaccine. If you want to get a vaccine, that’s like working with a baseball bat–.
BILL MAHER: Fine.
NEIL deGRASSE-TYSON: But then you hit someone with it, that’s bad! There’s a social contract to not infect other people!
Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
